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Police admin to troops: "Do something" to Patten

From: JP -- venfl.com
Date: 05/26/10
Time: 06:42 AM

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Below text emailed to city council, herald-tribune, city manager

see [below] 3 photos.

Explanation: These are of the white board in the police squad room, behind the podium where the shift supervisors talk to the troops before sending them out each day.

This is how the white board has looked for the week to ten days leading up to yesterday's council meeting.

Note what is not on the board: photos, docs about drug houses, info about any recent murders, info about any bad guys that the cops are looking for.

Instead, what is there are docs printed from the web, pages from Officer Demitri Serianni's annual eval (can you say "hostile work environment"?) and a cryptic message to the troops to "do something" to me.

It is exactly this culture of ineptitude and bullying that I have been trying to portray to you.

"Do something."

Now you know the bullying invective behind Officer Phil Phillips statement of "Stop the leak." To me, that moment is right up there with CJ Fishman's "I own you" speech on YouTube.

When the police have started targeting activists and journalists, you have a problem. When I am seeing my name plastered over an investigation white board with the command "do something" next to it, I know I suddenly have a much bigger problem than I ever thought possible.

You need to do something before somebody gets a bright idea and thinks, "Hey, I'll be a department hero if I get Patten."

This is a professionally run department? Has everyone in this town lost their minds?